Skip all these videos to read it, below.
Read by John Hurt:
Kipling, in one of my favorite films (next two videos):
Bio:
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Three Buddhist Tips for how to Live Life:
Okay, here it is:
If, by Rudyard Kipling.
This poem hung on the wall of Marpa House when I was younger. It’s since disappeared.
It was, apparently, a gift from Lady Pybus, mother of Lady Diana, wife of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I took the time to stop and read it nearly everyday—just as I always stopped and bowed to the Indian in front of the MFA in Boston.
Update: some years after reading this, the director of Marpa House said he had something for me.
It’s hanging in my home, now.
Here ’tis. May it be of benefit. And feel free to retranslate Man or Son as Woman and Daughter, etcetera:
If.
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